Martin Muleya
Takudzwa Pitso (33) is an artisanal gold miner in Penhalonga who doesn’t have a birth certificate or a national identity card.
He is married and has a son who also doesn’t have a birth certificate.
Pitso’s predicament began when his father, who had already lost his mother, passed away seven years later.
After his father’s death, Pitso was raised by his paternal grandfather, who was a Mozambican national.
Unfortunately, his grandparents also passed away three years later.
Pitso completed his grade 7 but did not write the final exams, forcing him to drop out of school while in form two.
“My father passed away in 1998 when I was seven years old. I don’t know my mother, but I’ve heard that she has roots in Bocha. I have not met any of my maternal relatives. When my father passed away, my paternal grandparents looked after me, although they were Mozambican nationals. I had to drop out of school while in form two because I couldn’t write my final Grade 7 exams due to the lack of a birth certificate,” Pitso narrated.
For individuals without birth certificates or identity cards, everyday life can be a significant struggle.
Without these essential documents, they are unable to access basic rights and services such as education, healthcare, employment, and social benefits.
This leads to a cycle of poverty and exclusion, making it even harder to obtain the necessary documents.
Fungayi Ndlovu, a good Samaritan in the Penhalonga area, highlighted that the issue of statelessness affects not only illegal immigrants but also some local Zimbabweans.
According to a survey she conducted, about 60% of Zimbabweans and 40% of immigrants in the area surrounding the farms and mines lack national documents.
“The main reason is that parents bring children with a BCG mark from Mozambique, and when they attempt to get a birth certificate for the children, the parents often don’t have their own national identity documents.
“This becomes a problem for them to acquire a birth certificate or national identity cards for their children,” Ndlovu explained.
Ndlovu also mentioned that some relatives make unrealistic demands from orphaned children to help them acquire birth certificates.
Additionally, there are cases where Zimbabwean women, especially, who have the habit of leaving their infants with grandparents and crossing to South Africa, failing to return and acquire birth certificates for their children.
Ndlovu appealed to the parliamentary portfolio on Home Affairs, Defence, Security, and War Veterans to consider a person who has been cleared by the police as not being a fugitive of justice and a BCG mark as sufficient credentials for obtaining a national identity card or birth certificate.
Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee, Albert Ngulube, stated that the committee had visited Redwing Mine in Penhalonga to assess the magnitude of the statelessness issue, establish the causes, gather recommendations, and appreciate the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants in accessing these national documents.
